BUTTERFLIES IN BED 



fluff or fur, that stands out like a hump or excrescence 

 on the back, which really does remind one of the dark, 

 rough cork of the birch trunk near the ground. If this 

 were the usual resting-place of Golden Y, it would 

 seem very like a matching precaution ; but there is 

 no evidence to speak of that Golden Y moths prefer 

 for sleeping quarters the rough, corky trunk of the 

 birches ; I think my moth settled thereon by chance. 

 I found him first amid the copse grasses and cross- 

 leaved heather, and I found another Golden Y moth 

 next day resting off the birch trunk in the under- 

 cover of the wood. 



In the lane end are still a few Silver-spotted Blue 

 butterflies, sucking the bird's-foot trefoil and the 

 bramble-blossoms : a month ago there were dozens. 

 The Silver-spotted, with lilac-blue wings and their clear 

 fringe of white, is quite as lovely a little flyer as the 

 Common Blue butterfly ; indeed, in minutiae and 

 perhaps because he is not so common ! I think him 

 the choicer of the two. Of the sleeping quarters and 

 habits of this gay beauty I know little yet ; one or two 

 I found at rest slept head upward, not like the Common 

 Blue their near relative head downward ; but perhaps 

 this was exceptional, due to some chance disturbance 

 I can hardly imagine the sleeping habits of the 

 Common Blue differ from those of his first cousin. 



Nobody could doubt that to watch butterflies and 



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